Our goal was simple to make the cut on Sunday and be able to compete in the 6th and final event of the 2012 Southwest Regional’s. So when we made it we were happy just to be able to get one more shot at proving how tough our team was and that we had…

“Nothing to lose, everything to prove”

3…2..1. GO Chris bangs out 10x muscle ups unbroken while Brad holds a #225 dead-lift then it’s Brad’s turn to PR with 10x muscle ups of his own knocking out the 1st 20 muscle ups with ease and on to the 60x wall balls and static pull up holds While one judge watches the wall balls and one stands on a box making sure that no part of your chin grazes the bar they finished after 3 or 4 switches and moved on to the partner carry where Chris had no problem carrying Brad 100 feet across the stadium with a #100 dumbbell in his hand immediately after 40x alternating box jumps. Then it was Brad’s turn to carry his partner and the dumbbell back 100 feet. If that wasn’t enough they each had to complete 1x more muscle up. Brad jumped up on the rings and missed, Chris completed his rep seconds later and then Brad jumped back up completing the rep needed so that the ladies could start. Mel and Jen would have to complete the exact rep scheme including one muscle up each to finish the final event.
This is where the story unfolds….

It had taken us months of training, 3 days of living and competing together over 5 grueling events for our team to finally be working together as a unit. The only issue was that Mel had to do about 19 out of 20 muscle ups and Jen would have to dead lift 30 more pounds then her body weight every time Mel had her hands on the rings. You see Jen had done a muscle up once or twice before but never in competition or in a workout and definitely never ever after hundreds of squats, pull ups, handstand pushups and dead lifts. After 4 UNBROKEN muscle ups Mel could not string anymore together and started missing. That sent Jen into a panic… with every pull off the floor Jens face would scrunch up in pain and agony. Then that is when the stars lined up and all 4 athletes clicked. Chris would watch Mel and wait for her to give the sign “Ready” then Chris would transfer that sign to Brad who was standing next to Jen and he would say GO and Jen would pull the dead lift off the floor. It was like watching the Stock Exchange, New York Giants or Tru Foods Kitchen run a sequence of events that looks like chaos but actually becomes an orchestra. They were all working together to become better.

Rep after rep 13…14…15…all complete. Then as great as she was Mel was toast and needed a break. I’m pretty sure Jen actually called her own shot and said “I go”. With the help of Chris lifting her off the floor like a scene from Mary Lou Rettons highlight film. Jen popped up and pushed passed the dip and kipped up completing the 1 rep needed to give Mel a rest and give Jen the confidence needed to hit the game winning shot with 7 minutes left on the clock. 17…18…19…20 done! On to the wall balls which made Jen look like she was getting shot out of a Canon at a 100 miles an hour. If you ask her she will tell you the target was 25 feet high and the ball weighed #50. It didn’t matter 1 by 1 they completed all 60 reps moving them to phase 3 the partner carry. Mel had no problem carrying the much lighter Jen. With less than 3 minutes on the clock I knew if they could just get to box jumps they could collect as many reps as possible before the clock expired. I was dead wrong! They blasted through the jumps in less that 2 minutes taxing there lower back’s even more.

With 100 seconds left Jen picked up the #70 dumbbell at the same time as Mel jumped on her back. Now think about this for a second…. Jen weighs #105 the dumbbell weighs #70 and Mel weighs #130 Jen carried double her body weight 100 feet. It looked like a scene from Saving Private Ryan and Jen was Tom Hanks. Halfway down the she fell dropping Mel and the dumbbell violently to the floor hesitating to get up Jen almost stayed down for the count. 1 minute left the announcer yelled and Jen got back to her feet within seconds with the dumbbell and Mel right behind stepping inch by inch forward passing the line and collapsing on the spot. 45…44…43 GET UP!!!! GET UP!!!! We shouted Mel jumped up on the rings and pulled 40…39… Mel missed the muscle up attempt and our hearts dropped 33…32… Jen jumped up and almost got her final rep, she not only missed but dropped to the floor from 10 feet up landing hard on the mat. 25…24…23 Mel back up on the rings and….BAM kipped up into the top of the dip 15…14..13… she dropped down and now with the fate and future of Team CrossFit Scottsdale in her hands Chris boosted Jen up onto the rings 9…8…7…6…5…4….as Jen got one arm up and in the other one slowly turned and Jen had finished it falling from the top of the rings. Listen closely to the crowd gowing crazy. 3…2…1 TIME. I couldnt hold back the emotions of not only the wod but the entire weekend and Iliterally could not stop the tears coming down. This was the climacting ending to the greatest finish in School history.

Let this be a lesson to all of us. “Never ever give up”

A special THANK YOU to our crew Brandon, Erin, Tatum, Zuhl, Tony, Logan and Drew thank you guys for making the trip up, supporting our team and keeping the laughs at an all time high.
The coaching team back home Ashley, Hallie, Sensei, Canon, Jeff thank you for holding down the box and to all of you for following us online all weekend long.

None of this would have been possible without our team sponsors Dragonfly Weapons Systems (Josh, Jay and Christine Middagh) iacquire (Jay Swannson) Tru Strength Fabrications (Mike and Natalie Gillis) West Dermatology (Rich and Heather Rotan) S.W.I.H “So What It’s Hot” (Anthony Ausband) I Auto home insurance (Nathan and Shannon Atchison)

This weekend was dedicated to our team mom Najla who had to fly home early to take care of our 3 year old who knocked out her tooth. We love you!!!

03/26/2015 7:00 PM

At SICFIT Scottsdale, we believe in testable, measurable fitness. If we cannot track our progress towards our goals – whether they are losing weight, getting stronger, toning up, feeling healthier, or all of the above – if we have no metric to gauge them by?

This is why March 26th at 7 pm, SICFIT Scottsdale is hosting our first Level 1 Fitness Test of the year! Whether you think you are ready to take the test or not, we encourage you to come out and use it as data to measure where you are at, see how far you’ve come, and where you need improvement.

Join us for the L1 test and use your results to measure your fitness progress for the rest of the year!